Direct answer
Large flying machines and piston clocks can produce substantial block, neighbor and entity updates, especially when many run in the same tick.
How to check it
- Test an active redstone/piston contraption and record tick-time spikes with
/spark tickmonitor --threshold-tick 50. - Compare spark samples while the mechanism is powered and while it is stopped without removing adjacent systems.
- Look for simultaneous piston updates, moving block entities, dense observer feedback and repeatedly shifting entity collision boxes.
Example: If each piston cycle runs smoothly except when several machines start at once, stagger those start times; do not assume a global redstone implementation switch is required.
What to change
Stagger independent machines instead of firing all pistons on one tick; cut unnecessary feedback loops and limit contraptions that are never used. Test changes against the farm’s item rate.
Software and version notes
Paper alternative redstone implementations may alter dust update order or behavior. Never switch redstone implementations on a technical server without backing up and validating machines.
Verify the result
Confirm machines finish complete cycles, no blocks duplicate or stick, and spike frequency drops during a matching test.